Valentine’s Day (ABC1 2008, Rhys Muldoon, Freya Stafford)

Rhys Mulddon stars feelgood Valentine’s Day, which has clearly been influenced by Pixar’s Cars with its tale of a small town going nowhere fast that is revitalised by the arrival of a new bloke in town.

Muldoon plays drifter Ben Valentine who ends up in the country town of Rushworth, best known for its Dick’s Famous Pies shop; After getting himself into a spot of drunken bother with the local cops Valentine finds himself up before the magistrate who mistakes him for former AFL star player Ben Valentine who disappeared in a cloud of controversy. The magistrate sentences Ben to 200 hours worth of community service coaching the failing town footy team The Mighty Bears.

There’s a catch too, if the Bears don’t win all four of their next games they face having to merge with arch rivals Lucan and the pie shop (which is owned by the Bears) will have to be sold. Following a fluke first win Ben is soon the great hope for everyone in town, not least Dick’s manager Mel (Freya Stafford) and local lawyer Sarah (Anita Hegh) who has her own reasons for wanting Ben to stick around.

Filmed in Regional Victoria and the outskirts of Melbourne.

production details
Australia | ABC1- December Films | 1×90 minutes | Broadcast Sunday 6 July 2008

Writer: Peter Temple
Producer: Tony Wright
Executive Producer: Miranda Dear, Amanda Higgs
Director: Peter Duncan

cast
Rhys Muldoon as Ben Valentine
Freya Stafford as Mel Crocker
Anita Hegh as Sarah Hayes
Michael Tuahine as Jimmy Kennedy
Anita Hegh as Sarah Hayes
Steve Rodgers as Wayne
Jacinta Stapleton as Delvene
Adam Zwar as Beak
Simon Lyndon as Bean

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